storm damage
© WESH2"It only took about five to ten seconds for all this to happen," said resident Ray Del Greco
The last thing Susan Selesky expected Thursday was to be awakened from a nap by a tree penetrating her roof.

So it's understandable she compared a strong afternoon storm to some of the hurricanes that have lashed her Florida Shores neighborhood.

"I've been through Charlie, Frances and Jeanne and this was worse than all three of those," Selesky said. "It scared me worse."

Selesky's home was one of at least three damaged by the strong storm as winds knocked down several large trees and took down a few power lines, according to Edgewater Fire Chief Stephen Cousins. Crews from Florida Power & Light were in the area working to restore power Thursday. And more than 100 homes in the area were without power, according to FPL's power map.

"We're not exactly sure the spacial extent of the winds, but it was definitely a downburst with straight-line winds," said Meteorologist Jessie Smith of the National Weather Service of Melbourne.

By that, Smith meant that the storm hasn't been classified as a tornado, but it was stronger than a microburst. She said the severe weather alert the NWS issued had gusts around 60 mph.

"Basically, it's like a microburst because you have a lot of rain and a lot of wind in one concentrated area," Smith said. "But it's a larger spacial scale than a microburst."

That could be why Charlie Suit said he heard nothing when the storm came through and knocked down a wooden picket fence in his backyard.

There were several large tree limbs surrounding the fence, but Suit's wife Snookie said: "We were real lucky."

She pointed back across the lawn to Selesky's yard as at least 11 people made short work of the massive downed trees entangled in three cars along the street and large limbs atop the roof.

"They got hit the hardest over there," Snookie Suit said.

At the Needle Palm Drive owned by her boyfriend Richard Guy, Selesky comforted dog Gracie in her arms as she showed the damage — a sawed-off branch bore a hole in the bedroom and chunks of tree and attic insulation peeked through a 10-foot by 5-foot void in Guy's sunroom ceiling while he guided cleanup crews in the house.

City crews will investigate to determine if the house still able to be occupied, Cousins said.

Gracie was shaken up, too, as the pup lay on the bed with Selesky when the tree made its unannounced entrance.

At least two other homes in the 2600 block of Lime Tree Drive sustained damages as well. Debris could be seen strewn throughout about a 3-by-10-block area in the neighborhood.

Mark King and other neighbors were outside helping to get foliage and limbs picked up.

As he drove his lawn tractor west, King described the storm.

"It was raining so hard. You couldn't see anything," he said.

But Selesky was grateful the damage wasn't worse.

"Nobody got hurt. That's the big thing."